


Son

by MathConcepts



Category: Castlevania (Cartoon), 悪魔城ドラキュラ | Castlevania Series
Genre: ...of a sort, Alucard is a sweetie, Artist! Alucard, Burning Someone Alive, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Depression, Doctor! Alucard, Domestic Fluff, Drac - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Lisa - Freeform, M/M, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Period Typical Attitudes, Period Typical Bigotry, You Have Been Warned, and Alucard are a happy family, everything starts out good and promptly goes to shit, it's canon, multiple POVs, no biggy there, parents losing their child, the Bishop is a douche
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:49:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22481329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MathConcepts/pseuds/MathConcepts
Summary: Dracula does not lose his wife to the people of Wallachia, he loses his son instead. Now he must contend not only with his own rage and grief, but with Lisa's as well, who is losing faith in humanity after their son's murder.
Relationships: Dracula/Lisa (Castlevania), Referenced Alucard/Isaac Laforeze
Comments: 4
Kudos: 77





	Son

**Author's Note:**

> We're starting with Lisa's pov here - and Alucard will be going by Adrian at first, but that will change/get switched around in future chapters.

She's making tea in the kitchen, with her husband and son corralled in the next room, it's a good way to keep oneself occupied when one is being ignored in favor of higher mathematics. Not that she's complaining, it's one of her greatest joys to see the two people she loves the most in this world interacting, but they've monopolized each other long enough. Up until a few days ago Adrian had been residing at his keep in Gresit, until a malfunction with its machinery had sent him to Lupu seeking his father's advice.  
  
Now they're deep in one of those discussions that can and have gone on for days; the subject of which is the castle's engines-that the keep in Gresit is merely an small offshoot of- a topic she is admittedly not well-versed in. Vlad had given her a rudimentary explanation when she was studying under him, but at that time the medical sciences had interested her more than a moving castle did, and then afterwards and for the last twenty years she has been occupied with getting him to leave the castle and take an actual walk to revisit the subject.  
  
  
Naturally, Adrian is fascinated by it. As a toddler he used to send her blood pressure soaring by sneaking away to play on the huge engines, until she became confident of his invulnerability and they became his playground. Now grown, he'll cozy up to his father and pick his brain for the answers to whatever holds his curiosity about them, a much less dangerous pastime than playing parkour on spokes twenty times his size.  
  
  
His father had reignited his interest in the mechanical by gifting the Gresit keep to him on his sixteenth birthday, something Lisa has had her own private reservations about. What would a child do with a place like that, it's dark and cavernous and quite literally a tomb; but then again that's Vlad's way, to make grandiose gestures and gifts to show his affection. Adrian had been quite taken with it, and she couldn't bring herself to discourage anything that brought him happiness.  
  
Her own gifts had been less spectacular, although no less loved, a set of paints and several sketchbooks she had mixed and bound herself, perhaps he could lighten the gloom of the keep with his paintings. He has too many gears and wheels in it already as it is, and really, she's been telling him to rip out all that clockwork and make it into something habitable, because god forbid he makes the keep able to transport itself too-  
  
  
Her tea is done by now, the chamomile has steeped into a yellow the exact shade of her son's eyes, and it makes her smile as she's pouring it out into her gilt tea service. She goes out of the kitchen with her stocked teatray and into the main room of the house, following the hum of conversation.  
  
  
Her husband is sprawled in front of the fireplace on that ridiculous high-backed chair of his that he'd brought from the castle, the thing is usually in a back room if Lisa can help it, because she values functionality more than aesthetics, and that chair is all _aesthetics_ , but he's already forgone the cape and one out of three of his layers, so she can make a compromise. Adrian is sitting on the floor, his feet to the fire and his head resting against his father's knee, which leaves room for for Lisa to come perch herself on her husband's legs. Vlad's clawed hand immediately settles on the small of her back to support her, and she flashes him a smile before nudging Adrian's shoulder with her slipper. He looks up at her, and she dangles one of the teacups above his nose until he takes it from her.   
  
He sips from it, mumbling a response to his father around a mouthful of warm tea, and she nudges him again, a silent admonition to _have manners,_ she's had enough trouble housebreaking Vlad as it is. The Vlad in question starts another sentence, but she cuts in.  
  
"Have you thought about that trip to the coast?" It's a topic he's been avoiding for days, and will continue to avoid if she doesn't bring it up.   
  
"No." he admits after letting a few seconds tick by, and Adrian chuckles into his cup. He's been dragged along by his mother on so many trips that he's sympathetic to his father's aversion to them-but _only_ sympathetic.  
  
He'll side with her if it comes down to it, and she's never been averse to using him as a bargaining chip when she wants her way-as a child it went much like this- _"Oh, but Vlad, Adrian would just love to go there, you'll take him, won't you? I'm much too busy with my studies right now,"_ -and every time Vlad would give in with a resigned air that indicated that he knew exactly what she was doing. Provided that they were small trips, to the marketplace or a neighboring town, but Lisa regards them as accomplishments nonetheless, although she's never stopped working up to longer ones.   
  
  
So, if she's gearing up to bully his father out of his comfort zone, he'll support her, as any good son should.  
  
"It'll be a month's journey, a month and a half at the most. From here to Bralia, then from Bralia to the coast, to see the towns on the shoreline." It's an argument as old as time for her, and as of late she's been urging Vlad to take those longer trips, to see more of the world, in hopes that he'll find something to stimulate the humanity she's dug out of him, and has been slowly chipping and polishing away at ever since she arrived at his door.  
  
But to be fair to him, his latest outing had yielded promising results, she had been thrilled to learn that he had befriended-and how hesitant he was to use that word at first- other humans. And no, _thrilled_ is hardly appropriate, more accurate would be _beside herself with excitement._   
  
He had helped these people, drew them up in their time of need, and that knowledge is like the first light of a sunrise, heralding something glorious to come. It's proof that his compassion can extend beyond her and their son, it's hope that one day he'll be the one to usher in the new era she's always dreamed of. She has not yet met these people-Vlad hasn't volunteered much information about them and she won't press him- but she plans to, she wants to look them in the eye and see what her husband had deemed worthy to succor out of the humanity he thinks so little of.  
  
What did he see in them? Did he see anything at all? Or was it an act of kindness done solely for her sake, tally marks to fill the quota of her expectations? She's had her doubts, but she never gives them any quarter. She must only think the best of him of she wishes to see him bring good into the world.   
  
  
  
She's broken out of her thoughts by Adrian, who has taken up her argument, and and she shoots him a grateful look. There are other reasons too, for wanting to get her husband out of the country, and they are somewhat less noble than wanting him to engage in philanthropy.  
  
For all that she has devoted her work to helping people, some don't wish to be helped. Change, even the smallest change, is capable of being regarded with the highest prejudice and suspicion. She has heard rumors, carried in from Targoviste and Gresit, that the archbishop has become _concerned_. Her patients, especially the old women who come to her for their various aches and pains like to share gossip, particularly succulent little bits about the men and women who have been dragged off and perhaps even _burned_ over accusations of witchcraft.   
  
The atmosphere in Lupu is shifting, and not at all for the better; and she's not naive enough to think she can withdraw and wait it out, and Vlad certainly won't. He has no patience for humans' histrionics, and if he senses she is in danger-let alone if trouble comes knocking-he won't hesitate to act defensively. The last time someone had dared to attempt to harm her had ended in bloodshed, and while she had been grateful and even lauded to some extent in his protection of her, she does not want to be responsible for so much death again. It's best that he leaves until she can be sure that any ruffled feathers are smoothed over. Adrian knows this, she confides in him what it would be unwise to confide in her husband.   
  
"Mother's right, you know," he says, "it'll only take a month, that's hardly any time at all."  
  
"Mmph," she agrees, sipping her own tea and staring at Vlad from over the rim of her cup. His red eyes narrow at her, and she moves her cup down to smile innocently at him.  
  
  
" _You two_ ," he sighs, dropping a clawed hand onto the top of Adrian's head, who turns his face up to bare his fangs at him in an impish grin. Vlad gives him a fond turn of the mouth in return, then looks back at Lisa, who raises her eyebrows expectantly. "I'll go," he says, "On one condition."  
  
She sets down her cup for that, because Vlad's conditions are always serious. "I'd like for you to come with me." he continues, and she blinks in surprise. Ah. That wasn't what she was expecting at all.   
  
His terms usually run along the more violent side, such as the one time he bargained to take a trip _only_ if he was allowed to dispense with any person that might displease him. This is so much different, and it's only the thought of her patients that stop her from agreeing immediately. She can't very well leave them, a month is a still a month for all of her and Adrian's wheedling, and so much could happen during that time. It's on the tip of her tongue to say all this, but Adrian gets to it first.   
  
  
"But what about mother's patients? She can't leave them for a month, father." They often think alike, her and her son.  
  
"Perhaps someone from the village can be found to take her place in the interim." Vlad suggests, but Lisa is already shaking her head. She has no trust in the villagers, who believe that bathing is bad for the spirits and that leeches can cure fevers, to see to their own health. She has tried, time and again to instruct some of them in the ways of medicine, but always failed to get past their superstitious natures.  
  
She's on the verge of refusing to go when Adrian speaks up again. "I'll stay and look after the patients."  
  
She shares a look with Vlad over his head, Adrian is no doctor like she or his father, but he certainly knows enough to get by on, and he's assisted her over the years. However, treating people doesn't really interest him, he tolerates the villagers and is careful to make them think of him as benign when he stays in Lupu, but caring for them is a different matter altogether.   
  


"Are you sure you'll want to spend a month here?" He rather dislikes Lupu, except for the corner of it where she resides, he was raised in the castle, and it's there and now in Gresit that he spends most of his time, he frequently visits her but does not stay for long. She had moved back to Lupu when he was around fifteen to start her practice, but he'd chosen to live in the castle, requiring Vlad to commute back and forth between his wife and son.  
  
Now that she thinks on it, that's probably one of the reasons behind Vlad gifting the keep to him.   
  
He shrugs. "I can handle a month here. Besides, you could use a little rest, mother." Vlad pats his head in approval, mussing the golds strands, and Lisa giggles before another thought comes to mind and she sobers.  
  
  
"Don't make house calls unless it's an emergency. The people don't know you as well as me, and they already talk about you enough." Normally she would encourage him to socialize, but with the situation being what it is- Adrian just nods, but,  
  
"Has there been trouble?" Vlad rumbles from behind her, ever the instigator.  
  
"No." she says as nonchalantly as possible, taking her teacup up and leaning back against his chest, dropping her head onto his shoulder and watching curiously as Adrian catches the end of one of his golden curls between his fingers and studies it with feigned intensity.   
  
"I could always dress as you, then perhaps they would be inclined to trust me more." he says, pulling a laugh from his father, who _has_ on occasion mistaken him for her from far away. He has her hair and her face, before he was born she had expected him to be dark like Vlad, but he'd came out golden like her despite any expectations to the contrary.  
  
Almost twenty years later and she's still trying to work out the _why_ of that. The scientist in her has always been so wildly excited over her son, she would monitor and test and hawk over every aspect of his development during his early years, so much so that Vlad would joke that he feared she would dissect him to learn even more.   
  
  
"Just keep to yourself as much as possible." she repeats, and Adrian nods again, then stands, leaning over them to kiss her on the forehead. "Goodnight, mother, father." he says, and she reaches out with her free hand to touch the side of his face.  
  
"Sleep well, son." Vlad tells him, and Adrian smiles through his curtain of hair before moving off. He has a room in the house, where he keeps a coffin to sleep in and various paintings he's working on; his latest is a portrait of her and Vlad, they had sat for it the last time he visited. He's more likely to paint then sleep, unless she insists that he rest, but she doesn't mind. It's good enough that he's _here.  
  
  
_ They're still a family even when physically apart from each other, but there is nothing like being together under the same roof, knowing the ones you love are a room or door away.  
  
She settles more snugly against Vlad, who rests his chin on her head. The fire is burning hot, and he's as cold as ever, so between them it's the perfect temperature. Her tea is soothing, and she's obscenely comfortable, so by and by she drifts off to sleep to the crackle of the fire.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, let me know what you think! Pretty please!
> 
> They're a wonderful family, aren't they? But not for long.  
> This chapter may seem somewhat boring, but it's needed to set up everything that comes after, so tell me what you think!  
> Now for some personal headcanons I've included- 
> 
> \- They're a very tactile family, they hug and touch and Alucard always gives his mother a goodnight kiss before bedtime  
> \- It was surprising to both involved parties that Alucard got Lisa's blond hair, the dark-haired gene is the dominate one, so he should have gotten Drac's dark hair, so Lisa has always been trying to figure it out  
> \- Alucard grew up solely in the castle. The flashback/memory at the end of season two shows Lisa and itty bitty Alucard in the castle, and Alucard looks to be about ten/eleven, so I think Lisa only moved back to Lupu when Alucard had grown enough to be without her  
> \- Alucard is Lisa's nurse, he was instructed as a surgeon by his parents, and I can't imagine Drac helping Lisa with her patients, but Alucard would be more likely to help when it was needed  
> -The general consensus seems to be that Lisa was naive about the danger she was in, but I disagree. She was being called a witch twenty years ago, not to mention that this is was in the 1400's and the witch trials were already well underway. She seems to have established herself in Lupu quite well, so she would know the dangers and how to keep herself from falling under suspicion, so I believe the Bishop had it out for her personally, and stirred the people against her, or else she would have been passed over. In any case, I'm not writing her as naive/foolhardy in this story, quite the opposite.  
> \- Drac was the one to give Alucard the keep under Gresit, the Gresit keep is full of machinery that Alucard couldn't have possibly put in himself, so it must have been Drac's.


End file.
